TradesFutures, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., and the Department of Labor have entered a $20 million agreement to help advance opportunities for women, minorities, and underrepresented workers.

From Construction Dive:

“[The funding] isn’t the exciting part of these bills, the exciting part is the jobs they create,” Marty Walsh said.

TradesFutures will use the funds to enroll over 13,000 participants in apprenticeship readiness programs, then place at least 7,000 of them in registered apprenticeships across the country over the next four years. The initiative is in part geared toward staffing projects created by the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The nonprofit will partner with the DOL, the National Urban League and North America’s Building Trades Unions to focus on developing a gateway for women, people of color, veterans, Native Americans and other underrepresented groups to access apprenticeship programs. The project will initially explore programs in Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee before expanding to other states.